Here's The Consulting Team That Will Help Guide Pennsylvania Avenue's Transformation

The decade-long effort to reimagine one of the nation's most symbolically significant avenues took a step forward Thursday. 

The National Capital Planning Commission announced Thursday it has selected HR&A Advisors to spearhead the next phase of reimagining Pennsylvania Avenue, specifically the 1.2-mile stretch between the White House and the Capitol. 

HR&A will deliver an implementation and governance road map, HR&A Managing Partner Stan Wall told Bisnow in an interview.

This road map will make recommendations on everything from how the plan is funded to what purposes the corridor should serve to what kind of governing structure should be in place to guide it in the future, he said. 

"There’s a need to rethink, reimagine the role of Pennsylvania Avenue, its national function as America’s main street, as well as its local function in supporting an active, vibrant downtown," Wall said. 

The firm joins a project team consisting of federal and local agencies that have various jurisdictions in the corridor: the General Services Administration, National Park Service, District government, Events DC, DowntownDC Business Improvement District and NCPC. 

"Today marks an important step towards implementing our partners’ shared vision to reimagine Pennsylvania Avenue as a venue, a dynamic public space destination, and an economic catalyst that brings millions of tourists from the National Mall closer to downtown to support local businesses, restaurants, and entertainment," NCPC Executive Director Marcel Acosta said in a statement.

A plan to form a new vision and planning document for Pennsylvania Avenue has been in the works for a decade. The corridor, home to prominent properties including the National Archives, the Old Post Office Building, Market Square and multiple federal agency headquarters, is still dictated by a plan that was put in place in 1974.

NCPC has been working to develop a replacement for the dated guidelines to make the corridor a multimodal, multipurpose and vibrant destination. 

Numerous studies, reports and public engagement forums have sought to imagine how the corridor should function. Three early design concepts were revealed in 2022, imagining what the streetscape could look like and how it should function in the broader context of downtown.

But bringing on HR&A as well as a design team, which NCPC plans to select this year, represents a shift from the conceptual phase to the action phase, Wall said. 

"It is a transition point coming from years and years of study and now laying the groundwork for implementation," he said. 

The project isn't funded yet, and part of HR&A’s task is to recommend how funding should play out. And all options are on the table, Wall told Bisnow, including federal, local and private sources, with the likeliest scenario being a mix of the three. 

In addition to the funding hurdle, Wall said another challenge his team will have to contend with is resolving conflicts among stakeholders as the purpose of the corridor changes. Efforts to create a more active corridor may spark things like security concerns, he said. 

Wall also said equity goals will be something his team will be thinking about, ensuring that the new plan makes space for everyone to feel welcome and that it serves its national and local objectives.

"Ultimately, the goal is to position this corridor for its next 50 years of life," Wall said.

NCPC aims to have a new draft plan for review by 2026. 

The effort comes as the corridor and the larger downtown D.C. area undergo dramatic changes. One of the largest properties on Pennsylvania Avenue, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, is expected to be redeveloped after the FBI's planned move to the suburbs, and the District is pushing forward with efforts to revitalize the downtown area by converting office buildings to other uses and making public space improvements.